David Saveanu
Reporter
Brian Nudelman is a professor at Parkland who teaches English, literature, and coordinates numerous outreach efforts around campus.
“I teach classes in the humanities, [but] my primary work in many ways is service learning coordinator for the college,” Nudelman said.
In this role he coordinates different aspects of volunteerism and service learning throughout the college.
“I coordinate volunteerism and service learning classes and programs, classes that incorporate community service into the class, supporting faculty supporting students and all that,” Nudelman said.
He says that he believes in service learning because he’s always been uncomfortable with the idea of learning taking place entirely in a classroom.
“[I] like the idea of making learning not just happen in the classroom,” Nudelman said. “I was always uncomfortable with lecturing a whole lot.”
Nudelman says that volunteering allows students to learn about different perspectives by connecting with people in the community.
“Through experiences, we can have pretty profound opportunities for learning so that’s where I found what I’m most interested in. I think many college students are looking to have experiences that connect them with the community, that have them doing positive work in the community and then, ultimately, the opportunity to see the world a little differently….That’s what keeps me going, seeing students come out of their comfort zones and do work that’s positive and work that’s meaningful to not only their community, but themselves and how they see themselves.”
Nudelman found a passion for service learning early on in his career.
“I’ve been doing this work since grad school, that’s where I was first introduced to the idea of service learning. When I was doing grad school work at the University of Southern Mississippi…I was in a classroom about pedagogy, about teaching, and my teacher said ‘Why don’t you go do some volunteer work at the community center in downtown Hattiesburg?’,” Nudelman said.
It was that service learning project that sparked his interest and convinced him to use it in his teaching.
“It was like an afterschool program for the kids in that area. I thought it was great experience. It was a different type of learning experience, so I brought that to Parkland,” Nudelman said.
Nudelman started implementing what he learned from that project shortly after he joined Parkland in 2004.
“I was coming from Mississippi to Champaign, so I did have to get adjusted, but within a couple years, I applied for the service learning coordinator position and just started expanding out the work [and] supporting faculty,” Nudelman said.
Nudelman wanted to provide more opportunities for students to volunteer and increase the overall efficiency of volunteering. He accomplished this by making a center where students can receive volunteer opportunities.
“That’s always been a dream of mine here at the college. My office right here has always been the home of volunteerism and service learning, but the idea was to create an office, a space on the campus that supported this work, where students who were looking to do some volunteer work could come in and say ‘Okay I’m free on Saturdays, is there any way I could start volunteer work,’” Nudelman said. “I guess the unofficial title right now is center for community engagement.”
“[It will be a] place for the faculty who are interested in doing some service learning to get some support to get some ideas, and for folks in the community to come in and say, ‘We’re looking for some college students.’”
Nudelman’s dreaming of having this center is still in its initial stages of being organized.
“It’s still really rough… we’re still figuring out what we’re doing,” said Nudelman.
Ultimately Nudelman wants to create a place where people can go “whether its volunteerism or whether it’s the service learning…[or] using service as a way to learn and think about different ways of learning,” that they’re interested in.
Nudelman has also been actively working on the Homework Club, an afterschool program that he helped start which helps students at a nearby elementary school.
“[We are] doing our Homework Club now for the 11th year. We’ve had Parkland students come out to Garden Hills Elementary and work after school with their fourth and fifth graders […] one on one with these young folks, helping them with their homework, helping them with their reading working as a tutor/mentor for these young folks,” Nudelman said.
Nudelman said the Homework Club positively impacts students and teaches them about our community.
“My goal is ultimately to provide Parkland students with a positive experience. Some of the students here are from Champaign-Urbana and some of these students are from outlying communities, these rural communities, and so going into Garden Hills, can be a bit of an eye opener,” Nudelman said.
Nudelman wishes “to get Parkland students out of their comfort zone and some experience,” he said. “Maybe they’re thinking about teaching, maybe they’re undecided and it gives them the opportunity to do good work in the community.”
For more information about service learning and volunteering efforts at Parkland, visit parkland.edu/servicelearning.